


Love Yourself: The untold story.

by ChimsJams



Category: Highlight | Beast (Band), NU'EST, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Drama, Established Relationship, Fluff, I swear this has jikook, Multi, Sope, Yoonseok - Freeform, first fic, for no good reason, jikook - Freeform, love them so much, namjin - Freeform, please be kind, so much drama, the story bts never told
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-07-05 07:52:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15859395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChimsJams/pseuds/ChimsJams
Summary: “Yes yes, I was getting there.” Namjoon replied. “So, there’s someone we would like to officially present to you all.” He extended a hand in the direction they were all looking at.An asian woman entered the frame. She wasn’t too tall, or too short, just average. Liza first noticed her hair, long, black, straight, and then her clothes, which were simple but in a classy way, like one of those people that have money but don’t show it off with flashy stuff. The way she moved, Liza noticed, even just walking towards the center of the frame, was elegant, and full of grace, the way Liza envied.The newcomer sat between Namjoon and Jungkook, in the center of the frame.She was beautiful, not in a way that struck you, or hit you in the face, but in a way that it was very pleasant to look at. Everything in her body language said she was comfortable and confident in the set she was.“Everyone, this is Helena.” Namjoon presented.-orWhat happens if there was someone behind BTS all this time that we didn't know about?





	1. Official announcement.

Liza settle on her seat behind the computer. The house was so quiet every movement she did felt like a sound coming out of a horror movie. She connected the headphones in place and started fidgeting on her phone, waiting for the vlive notification.  
BTS had announced they would be doing a “official announcement” and that they needed to talk to fans about something really important to them.  
Usually, she would watch it from her phone on her bed but since they said it was important, and also because they announced the exact hour and everything, she was prepared.  
Liza wrapped the blanket around herself more tightly as the phone did it’s ting from a notificación. She quickly launched the page on her computer and waited for the video to pop up.  
They were sitting comfortably on a couch, in a kind of semi-circle. Jimin kept watching someone outside of the frame, and Jungkook beside him patted him on his knee to regain his attention. Liza’s Jikook heart made a flip. The frame was oddly set, there was a space in the middle between Jungkook and Namjoon, there was special lighting, but aside from that, it wasn’t much of a ‘prepared’ stage.  
“Thanks to everyone that is watching already, we’ll start when we reach 5000 viewers.” Said Namjoon.  
Liza wasn’t much of a commenter herself but she liked reading them. The viewers count started going up, it was already on 3000 when she had tuned in. Jin was making some jokes beside Namjoon about his shirt, which was a very very bright orange. “You look like one of those cones they use on the streets.”  
They were all laughing, and Liza thought she heard a female laughter. She wondered if there was a lot of staff off frame, but it didn’t seem like it, aside from where Jimin kept stealing glances at. She was waiting for Jungkook to pat his knee again or do something that would make her scream and take a billion of screenshots later, but then, Jungkook too stole a glance over. Now that she realized it, they all were looking to the same direction while they talked. Yoongi was quiet while he stared intently to the person? off the frame, and after a while, he smiled. It was one of those bias wrecker smiles that had Liza looking around for a cup to drool on.  
“Joonie oppa, it’s at 6000 already, you should start.” The female voice said.  
Liza frowned, first because of the surprise, secondly because the female had used both korean and english in just that sentence, which caught her unguarded, and thirdly, because of how comfortable the female voice sounded talking to them.  
“Okay let’s start.” Namjoon said to the boys. “Bang- Tan, hello, we are Bangtan soneyodan.”  
They all waved and goofed around for a minute.  
“We haven’t done a broadcast in a while, have we? All of us I mean.” Jimin commented. “Everyone, we are working really hard on our new album!”  
Yes. The new album. They had announced it a couple days ago, the release date and how it would be a series of 4 like the highlight reels. To say she was excited was an understatement.  
“But before we all that, we wanted to come clean about something.” Jimin continued.  
“Hyung, you make it sound like we were doing something wrong.” Jungkook teased him.  
They all laughed, and the female voice did too.  
Jimin got all flustered and slapped the maknae’s shoulder lightly. Liza took note of the minute to later review.  
“Anyways,” Namjoon gave them a look before talking again. “There’s been a lot of rumors lately about us. Not that they weren’t before but there is a particular rumor we wanna clear today.”  
Liza’s heart started beating faster. What would it be? She tried to think hard on what was the hottest topic on BTS lately but couldn’t think of anything in particular, she wasn’t really a rumor person to start with, so. She wondered if it was Jikook related. Liza wasn’t sure her heart could take it if it was.  
“So, I think we’ve all seen some kind of variation of this rumor?” Namjoon said to the guys.  
“Yeah.” Yoongi replied. “Everyone I read involves one of us dating a mystery girl from the staff or something.”  
Hoseok laughed at that. “We do love our staff though.” He clarified. “I read something about all of us dating that same mystery girl.” Now they all laughed.  
“Everyone, I love hyungs a lot but there’s no way I would share a my lover.” Jungkook said. “I’m too competitive.”  
“Yeah, you are.” Jimin commented grinning. Then he added. “I think maybe Taetae could pull it off?”  
“First off, that’s not how poly works guys.” The staff member cut in. “Second, I don’t think this topic is appropriate, Kook.”  
Both Jungkook and Jimin looked at her direction with wide eyed looks, while Seokjin suppress a laugh.  
“The point is this: None of us is dating any mystery girl.” Namjoon cut in.  
“Or any girl, for that matter.” Jin added.  
Liza made eyebrows at that, the way he emphasized “girl”.  
“But.” Namjoon continued. “There’s someone we’ve been sort of hiding.”  
“Sort of?” Jimin asked. “More like, not talked about.”  
Namjoon waved a hand dismissively. “Lying by omission is still lying, Jimin-ah.”  
Jimin pouted. “We haven’t been lying to Army.”  
“It’s really not a lie, Joon-ah.” The female voice said. “Would you get on with it, please? I’m getting tired of standing here.”  
“Yes yes, I was getting there.” Namjoon replied. “So, there’s someone we would like to officially present to you all.” He extended a hand in the direction they were all looking at.  
An asian woman entered the frame. She wasn’t too tall, or too short, just average. Liza first noticed her hair, long, black, straight, and then her clothes, which were simple but in a classy way, like one of those people that have money but don’t show it off with flashy stuff. The way she moved, Liza noticed, even just walking towards the center of the frame, was elegant, and full of grace, the way Liza envied.  
The newcomer sat between Namjoon and Jungkook, in the center of the frame.  
She was beautiful, not in a way that struck you, or hit you in the face, but in a way that it was very pleasant to look at. Everything in her body language said she was comfortable and confident in the set she was.  
“Everyone, this is Helena.” Namjoon presented.  
Helena waved at the camera smiling. It was a very relaxed smile, so natural. “Hello everyone, I’m Jang Helena. I’m BTS’ vocal coach, and sometimes a producer too.” She said.  
“And lyricist.” Yoongi added.  
“And choreographer.” Hoseok added.  
Helena waved a hand dismissively. “That feels like taking too much credit when all I did was push you guys around.”  
“She’s been with us almost since the beginning, and really helped us a lot with a bunch of stuff.” Namjoon said. “I really don’t think we would be here if it wasn’t for her help and counsel and overall support.” This was directed at her with a fond smile.  
She smiled back. “Anyways, I did just start off as a vocal coach on Jimin-oppa’s request, right after debut I believe?”  
Jimin was nodding. “I was struggling with my vocals at the time, and I met her while promoting.”  
“Yeoboseyo~ Babeun meogeonni?~” She sang at him.  
Liza recognized the Nu’est song ‘Hello’.  
“Eodiseo mweol haneunji geokjeongdwenikka~” Jimin sang back.  
“yeoboseyo? wae amu mal motani?” Jungkook chimed in.  
And then everyone started making random crazy shouting ad-libs. And Helena was shaking her head while laughing. “Yah, Army will think this is what I teach you guys.”  
“Accurate.” Jin said teasingly.  
And then they were laughing again. Helena reached around Namjoon to slap Seokjin’s shoulder.  
Liza watched the whole scene unfold on the screen of her computer. She really was glad she was watching this, because she wouldn’t had understand it otherwise. There was something about the way the boys were acting around her, something that she wouldn’t had believed if she wasn’t watching it.  
Liza was not new to BTS whatsoever. She knew how the boys acted when they were alone, and she knew how they acted when there was someone else apart from the members. This girl, this vocal coach was somehow one of them. It wasn’t like the usual way they acted around staff. It was as if she was one of the members, like she was family.  
“So, the point is, it’s been a pain trying to not talk about her.” Yoongi said. “She’s involved in almost everything we do and in every process, and when we talk about a song or a dance we had to make an effort to skip her entirely. And truly, I was tired of tiptoeing.”  
“We want you guys to understand why we didn’t talk about her.” Namjoon said. “It’s not like we hid her on purpose like a dirty secret or anything.”  
“The main reason is that I’m not a celebrity or anything like that.” Helena cut in. “And I have my own reasons to not want my profile out for the public. And since I’m not an public figure or anything I don’t actually have to explain myself but for their sake, I will be, and maybe answering some questions, depending on what they are.”  
“Lena is very important to us, she is really a big part of our lives in general, not just the business part.” Taehyung said. “It was time Army knew about her too.”  
“What should we say now?” Hoseok said to the guys. “I mean it’s weird, we always make such an effort to not say anything related to Lena but the reality is that she’s been involved in almost everything and anything we do, and now that she’s here.. well Lena has always been here, so what do we talk about?” He said this looking at Helena.  
“Why are you looking at me like I should have the answer?” She replied, lifting her hands on the side of her head. “I don’t know what to do either! This is your territory guys, I’m always on the other side of the camera.” She pointed at all of them.  
Jungkook wrapped an arm around her. “Oh but you are the boss here.” He said teasingly.  
Helena slapped his chest. “Shut up, Jeon.” And then freed herself form the embrace to push Jungkook towards Jimin. “Control the little one, would you?” She said to Jimin.  
The latter laughed. “I’m older than you.” Jungkook said almost pouting.  
“Sure thing.” She huffed.  
Jimin pulled Jungkook’s arm. “Stop bickering, kids”  
“WE ARE NOT KIDS.” They both yelled back.  
Liza was dumbfounded.  
“So, this is my idea.” Helena said after. “I do a couple of broadcasts along the week with the members.”  
“All of us?” Yoongi asked.  
“Individuals, maybe pairs? I’m not sure yet.” Helena replied, and she looked at Namjoon. “What do you think?” In english.  
“I think we should discuss that later. We should ask Bang- PD too.” He replied, also in english.  
“Sikhyun-oppa already said we should handle it.”  
“Yah, yah, stop it you nerds.” Yoongi complains. “We could answer some questions now.”  
“I’ll read them.” Jimin offered, taking out his phone.  
Helena stopped him. “I think Joon should do it.”  
“Why?” Jimin questioned.  
Helena gave him a look. “Listen to me, Chim-ah.”She said. “I just don’t want you to read anything a hater that has nothing to do do with its life left on the comments about me or us, okay?”  
Liza was suddenly rooting for this girl.  
Jimin pursed his lips. “I can take it, I’m a man.”But seemed to get the idea.  
“Hyung, let’s let Namjoon-hyung read them.” Jungkook said to him with a smile.  
There was so much going on that Liza didn’t know what to focus on, but out of habit, she took note of the minute for later review. She gripped the blanket tighter. Helena was bickering with Seokjin now and Liza caught herself thinking about how pretty she actually was.  
This was going to be a rocky week for Army.


	2. Part I Wonder: A fate like coincidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The timelines might be a little bit off. I tried to make everything fit correctly without doing too much stretch but.. there's still some stretch.

“Yeoboseyo babeun meogeonni~”  _Hello? Did you eat?_   
A smile appears on Helen’s face when she hears the soft voice singing. (Hello by NU'EST)   
“Eodiseo mweol haneunji geokjeongdwenikka~”  _Where are you? What are you doing? I'm worried._  She chimes in, and pauses, to see if the other voice will continue. After a beat too long she continues. “Yeoboseyo? wae amu mal motani?”  _Hello?  Why aren't you saying anything?_  She starts walking around the hallway to meet the owner of this soft male but slightly high pitched voice.   
“Yeoboseyo~” The other voice returns to do the chorus.   
“yeoboseyo~”   
“yeoboseyo~”   
“yeoboseyo~” Helen sings this last one hitting a higher pitch, leaving the space for the other voice to do the bridge.   
To her surprise, the owner of the voice its dancing to Minki’s part when he starts singing again.    
“neol bogo  shipeosseo biga onikka~”  _I want to see you because it's raining._   
“biga naerinikka~”  _It's raining._  Helen starts singing Dongho’s adlibs though she’s certain this guy could do them too, with practice.   
“neowa geotteon georireul geotta bonikka~”  _Because I’m walking on the street I walked with you_  
The Idol doessn’t seem to be struggling with catching his breath at all.   
“jukkesseunikka~” _I feel like dying._  Helena is fully immersed in the song at this point, throwing a bit of freestyle adlibs here and there.    
“jip apiya bogo shipeo neoneun aninga bwa~”  _I’m in front of your house, I miss you but I guess you don’t_   
“bogo shipeo~”  _I miss you._   
They make eye contact. Helena automatically takes the second voice in the harmony, and they close the song together:    
“soljiki michigesseo, neo anim andwena bwa~”  _Actually, I’m going crazy,_ _I guess I can’t go on if it isn’t you_   
Helen can’t stop grinning, nothing like a fan of her beloved Nu’est to make her heart swell. The guy is also smiling, which makes his dimples appear and his eyes turn into little crescent moons. It’s one of those kinds of smiles, the ones that are her weakness: a sincere smile, no mask, no bull, no condition.   
“Nice to meet you, I’m Helena.” She offers him a hand. “Most people call me Lena though.”   
He took her hand, and she noticed how tiny they were, which made her want to squish them.    
“Nice to meet you, I’m Park Jimin from Bangtan Sonyeondan.”   
The name sounded familiar, which surprised her since she did not keep up with all the new groups every month. She only had the heart -and time- for a limited number of groups to invest her time on.   
“You like Nu’est?” She asked leaning against the table, beside him and be did the same.

“I like them a lot, actually.” Jimin said nodding. “They are very cool, I look up to them.”   
There was something about him, she didn’t quite know what it was, something about how excited he was, how unguarded around her -a total stranger- that kept her interest.   
“Your dance was pretty nice, quite neat.” It was a weird word to use, but she couldn’t think of another one -or at least in korean, she could think at least 2 other words in other languages- about how precise his movements were, even when he was just playing around. “And your voice too. Do you think you could do the higher adlibs?”   
He shook his head, he seemed ashamed suddenly. “I’m not that confident about my voice, I’m not the main vocal you see.”    
“You don’t have to be to hit a high note.” Helen replied. “I think you have a lovely voice and a pretty nice range, maybe with a bit of practice you reach them easily.”   
Jimin shaked his head. “How old are you?” He asks suddenly.

This makes Helen frown slightly. “Why do you ask that?”   
“Well I mean, you keep switching from banmal to formal, so I was wondering..” He trailed off.

Helen laughs. “Right, that.” She’s used to being asked that because she looks so young - and to be fair she is very young- but it still tickles her in the wrong way, she keeps forgetting that asking the age in korean culture isn’t a rude thing to ask. “I’m foreign, my Korean isn’t that good.” She doesn’t specify from where exactly, because firstly he wouldn’t know the country she’s from, and secondly, Helen could argue that she’s from everywhere.   
“Really?” Jimin ask even more interested. “How long have you been Korea?”   
Now is Helen’s turn to wonder how old he is. Jimin certainly looks older than she is but somehow, there’s an innocence to him, something usually young people have.    
“This time? About 1 month, I think.” She said smiling. “I travel a lot because of my job.”    
Helen raises the ID hanging from her neck for him to see. And his eyes widen after reading it.   
“Vocal coach??” He asks, with a shine in his eyes.    
She nods in response.    
“Could we exchange numbers perhaps?” He ask, and then turns shy. “Oh sorry, I mean if you don’t mind, I promise I won’t bother you too much, we could even arrange a time limit or a schedule, what’s your fee? I don’t really have much money right now and I’m not sure what the company will say about this but-“   
“Oh my God, relax.” Helena puts both hands on Jimin’s shoulders and starts laughing. “You have a phone?” She says raising her hand palm up.   
He hurries and puts his phone on her hands. Helena introduces her phone under the name ‘Amazing Lena’ and gives the phone back.   
“I don’t like taking photos so I won’t take one, okay?” She comments.    
“That’s alright.” He says nodding excited.   
“You can call whenever you want, if I’m busy at the moment I tell you when to call on the spot.” She says. “My schedule is pretty irregular everyday so.”

Helen realises things about Jimin that makes her want to take care of him. The way he seems confident about himself but at the same time is not completely comfortable in his own skin, not really faking, no, both of those things were true and sincere on his personality, but since they were in essence the contrary, it felt like they were battling inside of him.

From the corner of her eye, Helen spots a camera approaching with a group of boys -probably the rest of Bangtan Sonyeondan- and she starts backing away when one of them separates himself from the rest and comes to Jimin.

“Hyung.” The new boy says. 

He’s taller than Jimin, his eyes smiling as he reaches out to place a hand on Jimin’s shoulder. 

Helen blinks as she takes in the whole scene in front of her. She’s always been good at taking in all of the details, and right now there are a  _ lot  _ of them.

Jimin’s body turns completely at the arrival of the new boy. 

“We are filming for bangtan bomb, you should come.” And only then does new-boy notice her. 

“Jungkook-ah, this is Helena, she likes Nu’est sunbaes too.” Jimin introduces. “Helena-ssi, this is Jungkook, our golden maknae.” 

Jungkook bows a bit. Helena smiles in response. “You should go back now, Jimin-ah.” Jungkook's eyes widen a bit by the way she calls his hyung. “I mean Jimin-ssi.” She really can’t get used to the language system in korea, no matter how many times she's been here already, or for how long. 

“It was nice to meet you.” Jimin says bowing, Jungkook does the same.

“Ah wait, Jimin.. ssi.” She calls. He turns around. “Are you guys going to be on Show Champion tomorrow?” 

He nods in response. “In the morning.” 

With that they leave to join the rest of the group talking loudly and laughing a lot. 

Helena smiled an amused smile. She hadn’t seen such dorky boys since her boys were still boys. Almost 4 years after debuting, her oppas were slowly but surely becoming the men they were always meant to be, and she was hella proud of watching them.    
Now these boys. There was something about them, something that had caught her attention.    
Talking of the devil, Helen heard her oppa’s steps approaching. Hyunseung elbowed her softly and handed her a drink.   
“Found a new prey?” He asked teasingly following her line of sight.   
Helen rolled her eyes at his tone. “You say it as if I had bad intentions.”    
“Don’t you always?” He asked.

She glared at him and he grinned teasingly. Helena never had bad intentions, but she did tend to complicate things sometimes.   
“No, really tho, you’re interested, aren’t you?” He asked again.   
Helena thought about this for a moment. Was she? Her schedule was certainly full at the moment, with Beast’s promotions and the legal battles at her company, not to mention how NU’EST was struggling on sales. The only thought brought made her stomach clench. And yet she couldn’t keep her eyes off those boys.    
Hyunseung’s knee touched hers softly.    
“I know you got a lot in your plate now, but I think you could use the distraction.” He said softly. “You don’t need to worry about us.”   
Maybe he was right, but she couldn’t just let go of things so easily even if she wanted.    
The seven boys before her went quiet as the rest of Beast walked down the hallway. They bowed so politely and shy, something warm grew in her chest.    
Helena leaned into Hyunseung. “Maybe you’re right.”   
“Oppa is always right.” He said winking.

Helena rolled her eyes again. “He has my number now, so.” She commented.

Hyunseung arched an eyebrow at her. “That’s unusual of you. Which one? The tall one?”

She shook her head. “I showed him my ID.” Helena waves the plastic rectangle on his face. “He was interested in the vocal coach part.” 

Yoseob started grinning, catching up on the conversation. “He thinks you’re a vocal coach?” He asks barely containing his laugh.

Lena arches her eyebrows. “I am a vocal coach, got a major on it.” She replies.

“Oh, but that’s not all you are.” He said still arching an eyebrow at her.

Helena hated that. There was a limited amount of things she couldn’t do, and arching a single eyebrow was one of them.

“Well I’m not lying to him.” She defends. “Not technically.”

“Lying by omission is still lying sweetie.” Hyunseung says. “Anyways, you might as well just go full on in, if you're going to coach him, why not just coach them all.” 

He had a point, about the coaching thing, not the lying part. Helena never lied, and if people asked her questions, she would answer them sincerely but Jimin hadn’t asked. 

“Do you think you guys will be okay if I’m absent for a while?” She asks later, glancing at Bangtan. 

Helena knows the answer to this, she really does, but still, she has to make sure. “ _ jeongmal gwaenchangetni naega ne yeope eobseodo?”  _ (Will you be alright, even if I’m not by your side?) She sings the verse from their song, the one she wrote for them.

Yoseob smiles and wraps an arm around her shoulders, bringing her close to his side. “We already gave you the answer to that, Lena.”

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


“ _ Hi~ It’s Jimin.” _

He stared at the text for another few seconds before deleting it for the hundredth time. He sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands. 

Jimin’s been repeating this exact cycle for the past hour without any progress. What if she was busy? What if she hadn’t meant it? There was so many variables to take in count. 

“Hyung, what are you doing?” 

Jimin was so startled he dropped his phone, it bounced a couple of times in his hands before Jungkook caught it.

“Oh.” Jungkook said.

Jimin’s eyebrows shot upward. “What?” 

Jungkook showed the screen of the phone back to him. 

It was calling. 

It was calling _ her. _

Panic filled his entire being. “Hang up!!” He yelled at the younger, who camly did just that before handing the phone over.

Jimin left out a sigh of relief. 

“What was that about?” The younger asked sitting down on the sofa, looking pointedly at him. 

“Nothing.” Jimin replied, not really wanting to talk about his lack of balls to call a  _ girl. _ He also didn’t want to be asked why he wanted to call said girl. 

A frown appeared on Jungkook’s face. “You don’t tell me anything.” He said, sounding hurt. 

And this, more than anything else in the world, hurt Jimin. Firstly because it wasn’t true at all, and secondly because he didn’t want to be the reason for Jungkook to be upset. They had a busy week, tight schedule and tiresome performances coming up. Jimin was not going to add more to Jungkook’s plate.

“It’s just..” he trailed off. What would the maknae think about his insecurities? He was supposed to be someone that Jungkook could look up to. “Remember Helena? From today at Mnet.”

Jungkook nodded once. “The noona that liked Nu’est.” 

“Yeah, she said she was a vocal coach, so I thought maybe she could help me.” 

Another frown. “You don’t need help, hyung.” Jungkook replied. “Your voice is fine.” 

Jimin rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. “I’m not like you Jungkookie.” He said. 

Of course Jungkook wouldn’t understand. He was after all, the  _ golden maknae, _ and he really had earned that title. Jungkookie excelled at everything he ever tried doing, the only thing lacking, in Jimin’s opinion, was a bit more of passion. He would get bored of things too easily, and switch to the next hobby. Jimin would never say this out loud, but he was scared that one day the younger would grow tired of the Idol life and quit. It was a bit stupid though, and he knew it. Jungkook was  _ not _ a quitter. 

“No, hyung-“

He was caught off by Jimin’s phone. Their eyes widen when they saw the caller id.

* * *

 

 

Helena wanted to punch someone. Not  _ anyone  _ but someone in particular. She had been told several times by her oppas that her  punches were “strong for a little girl such as yourself” on the rare occasions she would spare with them, and was made to promise never to punch anyone in the face unless they truly deserved it. It wasn’t that Helena was a particularly violent person, but she how to be when needed. And this occasion, Helena was sure, needed some violence.

“ _ Lena? You there?” _ Minki’s voice sounded through the speaker. 

“Yeah.” She replied drily.

Minki sighed on the other side. “ _ It’s alright, Lena, I mean it.”  _

Helena wanted to scream. She collected herself.

“No, it’s not and you know it.” She replied, as calmly as she could. “They are overworking you guys because they messed up and sales didn’t go well. That’s far from okay Ren.” 

Another sigh. “ _ I really don’t want to fight, sweetie.”  _ He sounded tired. “ _ Why did you call? Did something happen?”  _

Lena sighted too. She didn’t want to fight either, she just wanted them to be okay. 

“I need your autograph.” 

“ _ Oh?”  _

_ “ _ I met a fan of yours today.” She explained. “Well, he said ‘Nu’est sunbaenim’”

“ _ An idol? Our fan?”  _

_ “ _ Don’t sound so surprised, you guys are the best.” She said proudly. “And your vocals are amazingly wonderful.” Helena added with a smirk. 

“ _ Bragging much?”  _

Helena shrugged even though he couldn’t see her. “Just stating facts.” 

Minki laughed, so she laughed too. 

“ _ We are all at the company still, you can come over if you want.” _

She frowned. “No unless you want me to burn the whole building down.” 

“ _ Ugh, who taught you to be this violent? I’m sure you didn’t take that from me.” _

“I think it’s called  _ passion. _ ” She replied, shrugging. 

“ _ Ah, in that case then you did take it from me.”  _

She laughed, so he laughed.

“I’ll wait at your place, with some nice dinner.” 

A pause. “ _ We’ll finish late.” _

Helena left out another sigh. “Then I guess we’ll eat late.” 

Another pause. “ _ Thank you, Lena.”  _

Her phone buzzed against her cheek. “Oppa, hold on.” She brought the phone in front of her eyes. It was an unknown caller ID, but it hang up before she could pick up. Helena could call back later, first things first.

“So, what do you wanna eat today?” She asked her Oppa as she walked in the grocery store.

 

* * *

 

“What do i do??” Jimin yelled at jungkook.

“Pick up!!” Jungkook yelled back.

“No! I don’t know what to say!!”

The younger took the phone out of his hand and pressed the reply button.

“Hum, hello?” Jungkook said.

“ _ Ah, Jungkook. _ ” Helena’s voice sounded through the speaker. “ _ Ssi _ .” She added a second late.

“How did you know..?” He was actually very surprised. “Also, how old are you by the way?” He didn’t like formality much himself but did find the way she kept forgetting to be formal and polite quite amusing. 

Helena laughed softly on the other side. “ _ I’m good with voices _ .” She replied. “ _ And I’m foreign so my korean is quite mixed up. I tend to forget about formalities.”  _

“You didn’t answer the question tho.” Jungkook interjected. Jimin kept making signs at him but he pushed his hyung aside, he was having fun. 

It wasn’t that Jungkook was  _ interested _ in this girl per se, in all his life, there was never any girl that actually caught his attention, he felt like he was floating in another kind of bubble that did not include  _ girls _ . He liked Army, he liked interacting with them at the fansigns, he  _ knew _ how to talk to a girl, he just.. didn’t care much for it.  This person was, somehow different. He felt a bit at ease with her, although he didn’t know her at all, he felt.. comfortable. Also, it was so much less awkward by phone, because she couldn’t see his face and vice versa. It was, in a sense, much like performing, or looking into a camera. He didn’t think he was acting exactly, he was just, showing another side of himself. He had talked about this with Jimin before, it was like a special type of charisma that only came out sometimes. 

There was laughter on the other side of the line. “ _ You’re quite sharp, Jungkook-ssi.”  _ She made a point to emphasize the last syllable, that made him grin. “ _ I can see why Jimin is so proud of his golden maknae. Are you always like this? _ ” 

Did Jimin tell her that? So maybe Jimin-hyung  _ was _ interested in this girl. He had said he wanted to get vocal coaching, and Jungkook knew all too well about all of his hyung’s insecurities. He kept repeating the lists of things he had to fix about himself. Jungkook had his own share of insecurities, actually, but he just didn’t dwell on them enough so his hyungs never actually noticed. It was exactly the opposite of Jimin. His hyung would lock himself and practice for hours and hours without taking any breaks. His mind would wrap around itself in an endless tantrum. And sometimes, only sometimes, when the pressure was too much to bear, Jimin would tell Jungkook, in between whispers and silent tears, about all the things that he had been keeping to himself. 

He shook his head. “The question, Helena-ssi.” He reached out to massage the back of Jimin’s neck absently. 

“ _ Call me Lena. Helena always sounds so serious.”  _ She says. “ _ I was born on 97’, I believe I’m 18 in this country.”  _

“Oh, me too.” He replied. “September.”

“ _ Oh? Then you are oppa to me.”  _ She said. “ _ I was born on November.”  _

He raised his eyebrows. “I’m not sure I believe you, I’ll have to see some ID.” He said smirking.  He actually liked being the maknae, more specifically, he liked being doted on. “Also, I didn’t say you could call me oppa.” 

Jimin gave him a wide eye look.  _ Be nice.  _ He mouthed to Jungkook, which only made him smirk, teasing this girl was as fun as it was teasing Jimin, only this way he could get them both. 

Helena laughed again. “ _ So what do I need to do so I get the right to that title?”  _ She asked, and then paused. “ _ You know what? Nevermind. I’ll end up calling you Jungkookie all the same.” _

Jungkook frowned. “But I’m older” He complained, almost whining. Almost. “Show some respect.” Only because he liked being doted on didn’t mean he liked being looked down upon, it was the reason he tried so hard to excel at everything. People didn’t actually expect him to do anything but were always impressed when he did. 

Jimin started to shake his arm.  _ Stop it. _ Jungkook mouthed this time.

More laughter. “ _ Okay, okay. Then what should I call you?” _

He thought about this. It wasn’t that Jungkook didn’t like to be called “oppa” or anything, he just wasn’t used to it. Also, he did despise it when they called him that just for the sake of it, so if this girl was truly younger than him, then he guessed he didn’t mind. 

“Wait, how are you a vocal coach then? You’re the same age as me.”

“ _ Same way you are an Idol, I assume?” _ Helena replied. “ _ My parents signed a paper saying that legally, I’m on my own. I guess your parents signed something saying that you were allowed to work?” _

“Yeah, they did.”  __ He replied. “But I meant, how can you a vocal coach? How did you get a degree?”

“ _ Ah, that. Well I studied a lot of music when I was little you see.”  _ She explained. “ _ I’m not sure about this country but overseas there’s stuff called ‘courses’. I took one of those a couple of years back and got a degree. It’s not really an impressive degree or anything, my vocal coaching career is mostly about my experience than my master.” _

_ “ _ That’s actually impressive.” He honestly thought so. 

She was his age and she already had her whole life figured out. Granted, he was an idol and all that but always felt like something was missing, and he didn’t know what he was actually doing half of the time. 

_ “So? Did I pass the test?”  _ She asked suddenly. 

He frowned. “What test?” 

“ _ Your trust test.”  _ She replied. “ _ I thought you wanted to get a grip on me before letting your precious hyung talk to me?”  _

Jungkook blinked. “How did you..? Well it wasn’t exactly what I was doing, I mean, I just wanted to know more.” He didn’t know why he had become so flustered suddenly. Jungkook was genuinely curious.

She made a pause. “ _ I see.”  _ Helena replied. “ _ Anyways, where’s Jimin oppa? This is his phone right? I got a missed call.”  _

Jungkook smiled. “Yes, this is his phone but he didn’t know what to say to you so I picked up.” Jimin looked horrified, Jungkook’s grin got wider. 

Helena was laughing out loud at this point. “ _ Ah by the way, how many members are there in your group? And do you all like NU’EST?”  _

“We are 7 members.” He replied. “And hum.. yeah I think so? I know Rapmon-hyung likes them too but I’m not really sure about the rest.”

“His name is Rapmon?” Helena asked, voice amused.

“Rapmonster.” He replied in his best english accent. 

This made her laugh again. There was music in the background, and some chattering. 

“I really want to meet him now.” She said after she stopped laughing. “How is he like?” 

At this point, Jimin had given up trying to take the phone back. He got up and headed to the kitchen. 

“Well, he’s our leader.” Jungkook said. “And a pretty good one, he takes care of us. Actually, Namjoon-hyung is really cool, I joined the company because he is so cool.” 

Jimin handed him a cup of water and was carrying a bowl of fruit. He smiled and started eating from it as his hyung sat back down beside him. 

Helena didn’t reply right away. “I see..” She said. “How old is he? Is he the eldest?” 

“Mm no, he’s not the eldest.” Jungkook replied while he chewed, Jimin made a face at that. “Seokjin-hyung is.” 

“So, Jimin, Jungkook, Namjoon, Seokjin.” She counted. “I’m missing 3.”

He was about to reply again with his mouth full but Jimin put a hand over it so he chewed faster.

“Taehyung-hyung is between me and Jiminie-hyung.” He said after Jimin released him. “And after Namjoon-hyung is Hoseok-hyung, and then Yoongi-hyung.” He said counting. “Actually, all of the hyungs are pretty cool. Yoongi-hyung writes a lot and has his own lab, he calls it genius lab.”

Helena laughed and Jungkook was grinning. He continued with a brief description of every member. Not actually important stuff, just silly things he thought.

“What about Jimin?” She asked.

Jungkook frowned. “What about him?” 

“Well tell me about him.” She said. “He’s the one that asked me for coaching.” 

“Jimin-hyung super short.” He said, grinning. And Jimin punched his shoulder.

“Or maybe you’re super tall.” She countered. 

“Or maybe you are short too.” He said back.

“Hey! I’m average!” She said, and he could hear the pout in her voice. 

Jungkook was laughing now. 

“Tell Jimin to send you my number.” Helena said after a moment. “I have to go now but you should contact me if you ever need anything.” 

He blinked. “Okay.” He replied, because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Alright, see you.”

“Bye.” He replied.

Jimin had turned the TV on at some point and had his head laying on his lap watching some program. Jungkook placed the phone on his hyung’s cheek. 

“Don’t move, it will fall.” He warned.

“You talked a lot.” Jimin commented. And the movement made the phone fall. 

Jungkook struggled to catch it but with his hyung’s head on his lap he didn’t reach in time and the phone fell in a tud.

“I told you.” He pouted.

Jimin just waved a hand dismissively in response. He picked the phone from the floor and placed it on the table. “Seriously though, you talked for about forty minutes.” 

Jungkook blinked, he hadn’t realized it had been so long. Jimin was looking at him expectantly so he just shrugged. “I guess she was easy to talk to?” 

“Maybe you are interested in her.” His hyung accused, with an arched eyebrow. 

The maknae frowned at this. “No hyung that’s not it.” He said, sounding offended. “She was asking questions so I answered them.”

His hyung watched him for a moment more before turning to the TV again. “I’m just saying, I’ve never seen you talk so much with anyone besides me.” 

This made Jungkook grin. “Jealous?” He teased.

Jimin didn’t reply.

“Hyung, you’re heavy.” He complained after a moment, and started poking him on the face.

His hyung didn’t budge. “Just let me be like this.” 

Jungkook smiled and kept poking him, but otherwise didn’t push Jimin away.   
  


* * *

 

“ _ Where r u? U done? I’ll pick you up.”  _ Dan had texted her.

“ _ Nu’est apartment.” _ She replied.

Helena put the phone down and resumed packing the food into tupperwares to put on the freezer and some to take home with her. She was sure Dan hadn’t eaten yet either. 

“Lenaaaaa~” Aron called in a singing voice. “Did you make desserttt?”

“I thought you were supposed to be on a diet.” Helena said pouting slightly, as coldly as she could manage. Which wasn’t very cold at all, since this was Aron, Helena could never be actually mad at any of her oppas.

She hear footsteps approaching her quickly and then Aron was hugging her from behind. “You’re still mad because I said that?” He squished her cheeks when she didn’t reply. “Come onnnn~ You know I was only joking~ I love your food!” 

Helena glared at him. “And still you only ate half the amount you usually do.” 

“That’s not-”He began but she gave her a warning stare.

She pulled herself free from his embrace. “Look, if you wanna starve yourself go ahead but don’t do it in front of me.”

He looked at her apologetically. “I just want to do good, they are all trying so hard and I-” 

“I know, I know.” Helena cut off with a sigh. She really didn’t want to have the same conversation again. Instead, she walked to the refrigerator to put the tupperwares away and take out the cake she made before they came back. 

Aron’s eyes sparkled. Helena smiled. She would do anything for that spark.

“Come on, help me serve it.” She said. 

He grabbed some plates and forks from the cupboard while she cutted the cake. He leaned in, pressing the side of his cheek against her temple. “Thank you sweetie.” He murmured before pulling away again. 

By the time Dan sent her a message letting her know that he was there, she had everything packed and ready. The boys had fell asleep on the couch and she helped Jonghyun carry them to their beds. He walked her downstairs.

“Thanks for the dinner, Lena-ya.” The young leader said to her. 

Helena didn’t reply, instead just watched his face for a moment.

“You look like a zombie squirtle.” She replied, and then sighed. He had bags under his eyes and looked like he had died days ago. “Call me if you guys need anything, okay?”

He smiled. There was so much struggle behind that smile. She let it go though, there was no use pressing. They would come to her when they were ready.

Jonghyun took her hand and kissed the back of it as a goodbye, and watched her get on the car, and didn’t go inside again until they drove away. Helena waved at him until they passed the building.

Dan grabbed her hand. “You okay sweetie?” 

She sighed. “How are the papers coming?” 

He gave her a look, and that was all she needed to undestand. Helena sighed again, and let it all go, there was nothing else she could do. She turned to her oppa, and just watched him for a little while. A smile grew on her face as she memorized his features over and over again.

“Oppa, do you know Bangtan Sonyeondan?” She asked after a moment. 

“Bangtan? Yeah I heard their songs, don’t know them in person though.” He replied. “Their album is on our kitchen table, sweetie.” 

So that’s why the name sounded familiar. “You bought it?”

Dan shook his head. “Sihyuk-Hyung send it to me, it arrived yesterday.” He turned to look at her. “This is his new boy group.” 

Her eyes widen and Dan grinned. “Yoseobie told me you found a new prey?”

 

* * *

 

Namjoon was tired, his whole body ache from all the dancing and his eyes stung from the lack of sleep. He had never been so grateful for the annoying sunglasses he had to wear to perform. He wore them now, indoors, to protect his sensible eyes from the harsh lights. 

He reached their changing room before long. It was an utter mess, and there was no one except a girl sitting comfortably on one of the couches, watching something on her phone. Namjoon didn’t recognize her.

“Hum excuse me? Who are you?” He asks politely. 

The girl raised her eyes to him and smiles. “Hello there, I’m a friend of Jimin’s.” She replies. “I’m Helena, but you can call me Lena.”

“A friend of Jimin’s?” He asked doubtingly. “How did you get in anyways?”

She smiled grew wider. “Don’t worry, I’m not paparazzi or any.. hum how do you call it?” Helena thought for a second. “Crazy fan?” She said in english. “Like a stalker or anything.” She added in korean.

“Sasaeng.” Namjoon helped.

Helena nodded enthusiastically, and then she waver her ID. “I met Jimin yesterday at Mnet, he mentioned he liked Nu’est so I thought I could bring over these.” She said pointing at the pile of albums that was on the table. There was also a paper bag that wasn’t there before. “I asked some staff to show me where you guys were and since no one was here I just thought I’d sit to wait around, I can’t stand for too long you see.” 

Namjoon blinked. “Oh, okay. Hum I’m Kim Namjoon, by the way. I’m the leader.” He reached out a hand to her and she took it. 

“Nice to meet you Kim Namjoon.” She said, and then took one of the albums on the table. “Here, this one’s for you.” 

It was a signed copy of Nu’est newest album, Namjoon had been listening to it a lot lately. 

He took it, bowing. “Thank you.” He said. “But, hum, may I ask why you would give this to me?” 

“I’ll answer if you sit down, you’re so tall you’re giving me neck pain.” She half joked. 

Namjoon found himself smiling too, he sat down at the sofa next to hers.

“Like I said, Jimin said he liked them.” She said, sipping on her drink. “Sorry, did you want some?” She pointed at her drink, he shook his head. “I was going to get you guys something too but wasn’t sure what you guys liked.” 

“That’s okay, thanks anyways.” Namjoon was a bit lost to be honest, why was this girl being so nice?

“So, yesterday on the phone with Jungkook-”

“You talked to Jungkook on the phone?” Namjoon was at a loss of words. He could barely get a few words out of him at a time. Their maknae was still so shy even after a year with them. The only person he would really talk to was Jimin, and even that was mostly teasing.

“Yeah, so I asked if the rest of the group liked them as well, I asked how many you were because I had no clue at the moment, so I bought them and took them to Nu’est’s oppas to sign them.” 

Namjoon didn’t miss a beat. He wanted to, since there was so much he didn’t understand yet, but he didn’t time out. “That’s the how, I asked the why.” 

Helena grinned. “Now I get where Jungkook gets his sharpness.” She commented. “The why... “ She thought for a while. “Well first off, to support Nu’est. You see, sales haven’t been so good for them lately, and any little way I can contribute, I do. And secondly… I guess it would be because of Jimin’s charm?” She smiled. “I really liked him first, and then I really liked Jungkook too while talking on the phone, but by that time I had already decided to buy the albums for you guys.” She grinned. “I think maybe it’s just because I can. I really like giving gifts and I can afford to do so, so why not?” 

Namjoon found this girl interesting. She was weird, yes, and there’s a lot he didn’t know yet but he had a feeling he would find out the rest, given time. She really talked a lot.

“Does my answer satisfy you, Namjoon-ssi?” Helena asked.

He smiled. “That’s the first time you use formal.” He commented, he wasn’t particularly offended by it, so he made sure to show that. “I take it you’re foreign?” Namjoon said in english.

“I take it you’re not.” She replied in english. “How did you learn english? It’s pretty good.”

He frowned. “How can you tell, if it’s pretty good?”

“It’s pretty good, but you don’t look comfortable with it.” Helena replied. “See, the key to any language is confidence.” She replied. “If I hadn’t asked about sasaeng in english, you wouldn’t have guessed I’m foreign, would you?” 

She was right, Namjoon thought. She was so fluid and had a perfect seoul accent. 

“So if you speak confidently, people won’t doubt you, but more importantly, you don’t doubt yourself and that puts your mind at ease and you can make sentences more easily.” Helena explained all this in korean. 

She poked into the paper bag and took out a tupperware, opened it and ate a piece of the content before offering to him. “Here, I made this yesterday, you like sweet stuff?” 

Namjoon nodded and reached out to grab one, he was actually starving. It was chocolate cake. He took a bite, it was the best he had in a very long time. “It’s really good.” 

“I know.” She said, smirking. “Anyways, the point is, everything you do, do it as naturally as you can, don’t try do be something you’re not, just believe what you already are.” She gestured with the cake.

“So confidence is key.” He said in english. Namjoon felt relaxed, he hadn’t felt like this since their debut.

Helena pointed at him. “Much better.” And then made a thumbs up. “You’re a quick learner.” She made to high five him and he lifted his hand to reply. “Now, tell me about Bangtan.”

“What do you want to know?” He asked, mouth a little bit, just a bit, full.

Helena just smiled. “Well, anything you want to tell me really.” She replied. “You can tell me the official version, or your own version, whichever it is, I’m willing to hear it.” 

Namjoon frowned. He opened his mouth to say something but she stopped him. “Chew.” She ordered. “I’m not saying you’re lying to the public, I’m only referring to the fact that what you perspective is always going to be different than the ‘official statement’. I’m not calling you fake or anything.” 

Namjoon chewed carefully as he thought about what he wanted to say to her. “Well, the members.” He said. “We aren’t.. we aren’t like this all the time.” Helena didn’t say anything so he kept going. “Most of us are really shy, and the camera just doesn’t actually capture all that there is to us.” 

Helena nodded knowingly. “That tends to happen indeed.” She says. “Why don’t you present them to me? Since I haven’t watched any of your videos, you could say this would be a firsts impression.” 


	3. Chapter 2: This dream is a blue mirage in the desert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helena meets the rest of the members.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I didn't realize I was missing the last (Jin's) part! So sorry about that!

Taehyung stared at the signed album. “What is this?” He asked his Hyung.

The practice room was empty except for them, the music was still on the background.

“NU’EST sunbaenims new album,” Namjoon answered.

“I know that but, why are you giving it to me? Where did you get this?” He insisted.

He opened his mouth to insist when Namjoon didn’t reply but Jimin cut in.   
“Are these from Helena? Was she here?” He asked the leader.   
“Yeah, she gave them to me yesterday but I forgot. Remember the chocolate cake? It was from her as well.” He replied to Jimin. “How do you know her by the way?”   
Jimin shrugged. “The other day at Mnet, I was singing ‘hello’” He said and made grabby hands towards the album. “I guess she’s their vocal coach as well.”   
Namjoon blinked. “She’s a vocal coach?” He asked. “She seemed.. well informed. She did seem like a coach now that you mention it..” He concluded, pensative.

Taehyung wondered what that meant. Their leader sounded impressed.

“I know right? She’s quite cool.” Jungkook commented.   
They all looked at Jungkook, a bit -much- shocked. That was unexpected. Their maknae was not the type to make comments like that about anyone. He was so shy.

A couple of months ago he caught Jungkook going to shower after everyone had fallen asleep and was about to ask him why he would do that but Jimin told him to keep quiet and pretend he didn’t know anything. He talked to Jimin about it after, Jimin said he was talking to Jungkook, trying to get him to open up but that they should let him have his own pace, so Taehyung tried not to push Jungkook. The problem was, he was a naturally inquisitive person, but he tried, he _really_ did.

“You gave her your phone?” Namjoon asked Jungkook. “She said you talked to her on the phone.”

“Ah, no, they talked on my phone,” Jimin answered instead.

“She does have my phone now,” Jungkook said.

Taehyung was dumbfounded. He wondered if Jungkook liked this girl. Both Namjoon and Jimin didn’t seem as concerned as he was. He felt left out, somehow. He was growing more curious with each passing second.

“I still don’t know who we are talking about.” He said pouting.

Jimin chuckled and squeezed Taehyung’s cheeks. “Honestly? I’m not really sure either.” He said. “I wanted to exchange numbers with her because she’s a vocal coach and I thought she could help me.”

Taehyung frowned. “Your voice is fine.” He said.

Jungkook was nodding in agreement. Jimin waved a hand dismissively. He always did that and Taehyung was tired of trying to convince him. “Anyways, her name is Helena, and she’s foreign.” He listed and thought for a bit. “That’s it, that’s all I know, I don’t know what her last name is.” He said scratching his chin.

“She knows English,” Namjoon said. “And a couple of other languages I think.”

Jimin shrugs. “Jungkook’s been texting her. He should know more than us.”

Jungkook shakes his head. “She doesn’t like to text, she prefers calling.” He replied. “She doesn’t write Korean well.” He said it teasingly. “She knows Spanish and Japanese and Chinese too. I didn’t ask her last name, also, she knows BEAST sunbaenims.” And then grinned. “I’m older than her.”

Younger than the youngest? How was she even a vocal coach? Also, BEAST? Really? How did she manage to meet them?

“So she gave you the albums and left?” Jimin asked Namjoon. “We should thank her.”

Namjoon nodded. Jungkook took out his phone and typed something on his phone, and after a moment he put the phone on speaker.

Taehyung’s eyes widen with understanding. “You calling her now??”

Jungkook made a face like ‘duh’. Jimin and Namjoon were both taken aback too, but composed fairly quickly.

“ _Hello?”_ A clear female voice.

 _“_ Did you eat?” Jimin sang NU’EST song with a grin.

A laugh on the other side, their own private joke. “ _No, not yet._ ” She replied. “ _What about you guys? Did you guys eat?_ ”

“Not yet,” Jungkook said.

“ _Oh, want to have dinner together?”_ She suggested. “ _I’m wrapping up here, I can come over in about 20 mins.”_

“Alright,” Jungkook said immediately. Even Jimin flinched this time.

“Actually, we called to say thank you for the albums.” Namjoon interjected.

“Yeah, really, thank you.” Jimin said, and looked at Taehyung expectantly.

“Hum, thanks?” He said hesitantly.

“ _Oh!”_ Helena said on the other side. “ _Kim Taehyung-ssi?_ ”

“Hum, yeah.” He replied. “How did you know who I was?”

“ _Well, Namjoon-oppa mentioned the other day that you guys had a baritone, so I just assumed.”_

Jungkook was giggling. “Told you she was quite amazing.” More to himself but Taehyung still heard it, and apparently so did the girl.

“ _Aw, is Jungkookie praising me?”_ She asked teasingly.

“I’m not.” He said with a frown. The maknae seemed unused to be on the other side of the teasing.

“ _Alright alright, don’t get mad, I’ll buy you food.”_ She said, laughing.

“Lamb skewers?” The maknae asked, crossing his arms on his chest, a victory grin in his face. Honestly, Taehyung had never quite seen him like this. He wondered if Jimin had, and then he thought that probably yes.

Jimin and Namjoon’s eyes widen. “Jungkook!” Jimin scowled.

Jungkook flinched and lowered his gaze suddenly self-conscious chuckling. “ _I’ll buy you anything you want Jungkook-ah. But I’m not sure what skewers are. You guys know a good place?”_

Jungkook's eyes light up again. “I know a place.”

Jimin giggled at Jungkook’s seriousness, and pat the back of his head. “So, 20 minutes?” He asked Helena.

“ _Mm.. make that 30_ .” She said pensively. “ _I have to wrap this up. I’ll meet you guys at the company entrance_.”

“Alright,” Jungkook replied cheerfully.

The maknae was visibly in a good mood now. He caught Jimin watching him with a fond smile.

“We shouldn’t let her pay.” The leader said.

Jimin nodded. “I mean she already bought us these.” He pointed at the albums. “If anything we should pay.”

“I’ll tell Jin-Hyung,” Namjoon said, getting up.

And that was that.

Taehyung was growing more and more curious about this person, he _had_ to meet her at this point. He wondered why the other guys seemed so at ease about her, considering they never had much contact with girls other than their makeup noonas.

There was a silent agreement on cleaning themselves up since their manly smells weren’t the best to be around. They changed into the spare clothes they brought with them and emptied a can of deodorant. (Each)

Taehyung started fidgeting around by the time Jimin said Helena was there. He skipped ahead of the rest, they were still picking up their stuff.

He sort of sprinted there, skipping the stairs in a way he was sure Jimin would nag him about if he saw.

Taehyung heard her before he saw her. He recognized that not so soft laugh.

“Alright, alright, I’ll bring you if it’s any good.” She was talking on the phone, Taehyung assumed. “Alright, tell Hyunseung-oppa to call me later, please? Why? Well maybe because I miss him?” There was a hint of snarkiness in her voice. Helena was giving him her back, she wasn’t very tall and had long dark hair. Taehyung didn’t quite know what to do. He didn’t want to startle the girl, but was he supposed to just stand there waiting? Wouldn’t that be creepy?

Taehyung decided to do just that.

“Oppa, I have to go, Taehyung is here.” Taehyung was at a loss of words as she turned around, a huge smile on her face, and waved a hand at him. He tried to smile back but didn’t quite succeed. “What? No, Junhyung I’m not _stalking_ them, geez, what has Hyungseung been telling you?” She shot him an apologetic smile and then rolled her eyes at whatever the speaker said. “I’m hanging up in 3.. 2..1. Times up, love you, bye.” She hung up and put the phone away. Helena smiled at him again, that brilliant smile seemed to come easily to her. “So sorry about that, Taehyung-ssi.” She said holding out her hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Helena, but you can call me Lena.”

Taehyung took her hand. It was so tiny, like Jimin’s, he felt something on the palm though, like a line or something. “The others talked about you.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Really? And what did they say?” A grin on her face. She was pretty, Taehyung noted, in a soft, quiet natural way. The more you looked the more you liked it.

“Well, nothing much, really.” He said truthfully. “They don’t even know your last name.”

Helena laughed, that not so soft but very sincere laugh. “Jang, I’m Jang Helena.”

“Kim Taehyung.” He said because he didn’t know what else to say.

“The baritone.” She said nodding.

“You classify people by vocal range?” He asked, curious.

She chuckled. “No, not really,” Helena replied and looked to the entrance of the company building as the others came out. Namjoon, Jimin, and Jungkook.

Taehyung wondered if she was maybe psych.

“Hey.” She greeted them, the same smile on her face. Helena seemed to move towards them but then didn’t. She sighed finally. “Asians are so stoic. They never greet friends properly. Or say goodbye for that matter.” She said exasperatedly.

“Why? What would you normally do?” Taehyung asked her.

“Well, normally, a kiss on the cheek, in some countries it’s both cheeks.” She replied, thoughtful. “A hug at the very least.”

Then giggled at Jungkook’s reaction. The maknae was visibly uncomfortable.

“Even the guys?” Taehyung asked wide-eyed.

“I’ll tell you more when I have some food in my stomach.” She replied, a grin spreading to her eyes. “Shall we?”

“I’m not going,” Namjoon said. “Jin-Hyung said he needed help.”

“With what?” Taehyung asked.

The leader shrugged. He said something to Jimin in low voices. Something about payment of the dinner, Taehyung was assumed. Maybe Namjoon-Hyung would tell Jimin to use the company card.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Helena wrapping an arm around Jungkook's neck and for a second there, Taehyung thought she would actually give him a kiss on the cheek.

“So, it’s just maknae-line tonight?” Helena said cheerfully.

“Yeah, sorry,” Namjoon said. “Seokjin-hyung says he wants your cake recipe though.”

Taehyung was wondering if he was the only one to notice Jungkook’s panic face when Jimin showed up out of nowhere and pulled him aside, wrapping his arm around him instead. “I guess I’m in charge today then!”

There was a strange look on Helena’s face like she was barely containing a laugh.

“Alright but I only give my secret recipes in person.” She winked at Namjoon. “I’ll leave the details to you two.”

They waved the leader goodbye. “We are taking the bus over there.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You guys take the bus? Aren’t you worried someone will recognize you?”

“We are not that famous.” He replied.

“Yet.” Jimin added, cheerful. He was still dragging the maknae along, walking ahead, leading the way.

Taehyung stayed close to Helena. She was small, and it was kind of late, so his instincts kicked in.

“What artists do you know?” He asked her.

“Well, now I know Kim Taehyung.” She replied grinning.

He smiled back. “I’m not really sure. I mean, I know a bunch but I’m not close to all of them.”

“So who are you close to?” Taehyung had been told repeatedly that he asked a lot of questions but it was as if he just couldn’t help himself. He _tried,_ he really did.

“Well, BEAST for starters.” She said. “They basically raised me.. sort of.” There was something in that grin. Like a private joke or something.

Helena didn’t seem bothered by his inquisitive personality, she either answered or had a snarky comeback. He wondered if this was because she didn’t want to answer some questions. So he asked.

“You don’t answer some of the questions.” He said. “Why?”

She giggled again. “First off, your mind is everywhere, Taehyung-ssi, did anyone tell you that?” He shrugged. “I can answer whatever you want, I’m not trying to avoid them, I just make remarks. I pay a lot of attention to details you see, it’s my character flaw.” She shrugged.

“Is it, though?” He asked. “I mean is it bad to pay attention to details?”

Taehyung himself had his own fair share of moments like that.  He asked a lot of questions precisely because he noticed all of those little details.

Helena shrugged. “Could be, could not be.” She replied. “Depends on the situation, I suppose. Some people get so fixed on them that they forget the bigger picture.”

Taehyung nodded. He wasn’t a stranger to this matter.

They reached the bus station and waited for a bit. Jungkook and Jimin decided to join the conversation.

“I can’t believe you never had lamb skewers,” Jungkook said incredulously. “I mean they are awesome.”

Helena just shrugged. “I mean I’ve definitely tried lamb before but I just don’t know what the word _skewers_ actually means.”

“The place we are going it’s really really good.” Jungkook kept saying, he was almost vibrating from excitement. “It’s a bit pricey but once in a while, I guess it’s okay. The food is really good, there’s a side dish I really like, I’ll show you.” He was so excited a little of his Busan accent peeked out.

Taehyung was just shocked. He had never seen Jungkook talk so much with someone he barely knew.

Helena was listening intently and made some comments here and there. He noticed how Jimin was immersed in what Jungkook was saying too. And then he noticed how himself felt so at ease, regardless of how tired he was or how stressed or fidgety he was feeling after so many hours or intense practice, right there, waiting for the bus with two of his teammates and pretty much a stranger, he felt like he could let go for a moment.

He felt the constant grinding inside of his mind start to fill his head with questions and what-ifs so he tried to push them back as he usually did, but the grinding just got louder and louder. Taehyung started to get a little fidgety when the bus rolled around.

“Is your mind all over the place again?” Helena asked him when they got on the bus, she was sitting beside him, leaning in close. “I get like that sometimes too, you know.” She kept saying. “I’ll teach you a little trick if you want.”

And then Taehyung looked at her, really looked. Her eyes were so full of promises and he thought that maybe he could trust this almost stranger.

* * *

 

The little man led Helena down the hallways of the little building. The man wasn’t actually small but in her heels, she felt like the whole world had become smaller.

The company was only a fraction of the actual building really, so it actually took no time at all for them to reach their destination. She wondered how much it would cost to get the whole building, carefully inspecting every single corner of the corridors and the windows, and the doors, and deciding that I wasn’t worth it. No matter how cheap, the cost of getting all the remodelations would be too big to actually do any good financially. (She should mention that to the CEO.)

Wow. Dan would be proud of her right now, thinking like a true business person.

It wasn’t that Helena didn’t know _how to,_ she came from a business family after all, and she could strike deals better than Dan if she wanted to. That’s why she said no to Dan when he offered to step in, there he was cases that Helena wanted to handle this with her own hands. She did, however, have him make this the appointment for her.

“Wait here.” The man said as they reached the door that labeled ‘CEO’.

He came out before long and told her she could go in, she smiled and thanked him before heading inside.

“Lena.” Bang-pd said as a greeting. He was standing beside his desk with his arms out to her.

“It’s been a while Oppa.” She greeted with a bright smile as he embraced her.

“Come, sit.” He motioned to the seat as he walked around to his chair.

Helena sat gracefully, putting the folders on the table. “You look good, Oppa.” She commented smile on her face. “Younger every day.”

He shook his head chuckling. “Don’t tease an elder, Lena. Don’t be a brat, I already have enough of those here.”

Helena laughed. “You know I don’t lie, Oppa.”

The CEO waved a hand dismissively. “Anyways, what brings you here? You know, when I got that call from Dan I was really surprised, I didn’t know what to expect.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Come on Oppa, don’t you lie to me now.” She complained. “I know you were expecting that call from Dan-Oppa.”

He grinned. “Was I now?”

Helena rested a hand on the table and leaned in. “You sent an album of your new group to our house, not the company, but our personal address, with _your_ personal name and address, not the company’s, and to top it all off, it wasn’t sent right on the release date as a courtesy or the support and sponsorship, but it was sent a couple of days later with a personal note from you.” She listed. “So, JYP, was it? Your partner?”

Bang-pd couldn’t stop grinning, he hadn’t expected anything less from Lena. “Yes.” He replied. “I see you did your homework.”

Helena shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. “Only the basic stuff.” She replied. “But I do plan on doing that homework now.” She handed the folder over to him. “My contract.”

Helena waited while he read it carefully. She couldn’t help the excitement bubbling inside of her, about to boil over at any point. She would have to find an outlet later.

“Are you serious?” He asked, after reading it.

She straightened her back. “I don’t play with these things, Bang-pdnim.” A slight edge of a challenge to her voice.

The producer looked at the contract again and then relaxed back to his chair. “Are you sure about this, Lena?” He asked.

She simply nodded.

“And what comes after?” He asked after a minute.

“Well, that depends,” Helena replies.

“On what, on how well they do?”

Helena shakes her head. “They are people, not animals at the zoo. They don’t need to ‘do well’ in order to be appreciated.” She replies. “It depends on how far you’re willing to support them, Oppa. It all comes down to you, and the kind of deal you want to pursue.” She smiles. “I can promise you that I will always offer the best on my end, but ultimately, you’re the one to decide.” She opens the contract once more and flips it to the blank page nearing the end. “This blank space is for you to fill out with your requests. Take your time, I can come to pick it up and sign it or you could fax it, whichever you’d like.”

The CEO took another moment to think. “Any requests?”

“And conditions or whatever.” She replied dismissively. “Within reason, of course. I trust you, Oppa.”

He looked over the contract again, pensative. “Look, there’s no rush to it, I know you might need to run this through a couple people before making a decision, and I’m not going anywhere, so take your time.” She said. “Give Dan a call when you’ve decided.”

* * *

 

Hoseok felt himself sink in the music, he felt his heartbeat synchronize with the beat of the music and he immersed himself in it, he lets it drown him.

“You got it wrong.” A female voice said.

It snapped Hoseok’s attention right back to earth. He turns to the door, there’s a girl standing there in a grey suit? Looking very classy and professional. He wonders if he’s ever going to look like that, but then again, that’s not exactly his profession. He sometimes wants to look more pro so that people would take him more seriously, but as quickly as those thoughts come up, he drowns them.

“Excuse me?” Hoseok asks, panting slightly.

“You got the secondary beat wrong before.” She explained, walking toward the speaker. She put the song again. “There, can you hear it?” She started to mark the beats with her hands. “Daa-da-da-da.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened. He had danced to this song at least a thousand times already and he had never realized that little mistake. No one before had pointed it out, but now that she did, it seemed obvious.

“Other than that, you’re almost flawless.” She commented grinning.

“Almost?” He smiled back.

She shook her head grinning. “Are you all this sharp?” She said, more to herself than to him. “I’m Jang Helena, you can call me Lena though, you must be Hoseok?”

He blinked at her. “How did you know?” Hoseok asked. “And why are you here?”

Helena smiled. “Namjoon-ssi said there was 3 that danced better, Jungkook, Jimin, and Hoseok, I’ve already met Jungkook and Jimin, and judging by the way you move there’s no doubt at all you are the main dancer.”

Hoseok smiled at the compliment. “So, who are you again?” He asked again.

She lifted the folders she was carrying. “I came to leave these to your CEO.”

“Bang-Pdnim? Why?” He asked, intrigued.

She clicked her tongue. “You know, there’s a Chinese term that basically means ‘curious little bear’.” Helena comments. “It’s top secret, for now. You’ll find out when it’s time.” She winked. “If everything goes as I want.” She pressed something in the speaker, and played the folder and her purse on the table, looking for something inside of it. The girl produced an iPod and some shoes from it. How was she able to fit those inside that tiny purse, Hoseok had no idea. He also noticed all of the things she had were well-known brands. He wondered if they were dupes, there were a lot of those in Korea.

“Anyways, mind if I join you? I haven’t danced in a while.”

Before he had the chance to say anything, Helena started to change into some brand new looking sneakers (he were all worn out), leaving the heels on the floor. She looked into the iPod and connected it to the speaker. A familiar beat came to life.

“This is our song.” He said it was Bulletproof pt. 1.

“Yeah, turns out I’ve had been listening to this for a while without knowing who it was.” She commented as she started stretching. “It’s not my style for dancing but I can deal with it. How well can you follow?”

There was an edge of challenge in her eyes, a challenge he wasn’t going to turn down.

Hoseok grinned.

They did an extremely hard routine but Hoseok was happy. He hadn’t been this challenged in a long while. This, with no ‘hook part’ or ‘appeal part’ bullshit, was what he enjoyed the most. He wasn’t actually complaining, really. He didn’t want to give up his dancing dream and he wanted to actually make a living out of it, and while doing that, he discovered a new passion: rapping, and well, overall performing. The thrill of the stage was not something one could put into words, and Hoseok was thankful for every single second of it.

Helena stopped abruptly and he almost crashed into her. She reached out and grabbed his arm.

“I’m sorry, I need a second.” She said barely loud enough for him to hear.

Helena didn’t let go of his arm and instead she squeezed harder, he knew she was in pain but her expression remained blank, as she was thinking about something.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “Are you hurt somewhere?”

She released a sigh after a second too long and closed her eyes. “I need to sit down.”

He helped her sit on the floor and she settled against the mirrored wall. “Could you do me a favor?” Helena said looking at him. “Could you hand me my purse?”

He nodded and headed over. He stopped the song while doing so.

“Here.” Hoseok sat beside her.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can continue, I know it has only been an hour and half.” She apologized while producing a pills bottle and a water bottle from her bag. “I can watch and correct you if you want, but I don’t think that is effective teaching.” He watched as she swallowed the pill and made a face. “I hate pills.”

Hoseok chuckled. “I think I’m done for the day.”

She nodded and offered him her water bottle. “I.. hum” Helena started. “My body isn’t what it used to be.” She said as he took her bottle. “Got a bunch of back problems and leg problems and joints problems over the years and well, a lot of surgeries.” Helena was looking at her hands. “I have to do a daily rehab just to move properly.” She commented and looked directly to him. “So take it easy, yeah? Let your body rest and heal, don’t overdo it, you aren’t invincible just cause you’re young.” She said this last with a smile.

Hoseok was at a loss of words. She looked so young, why was _she_ saying those things.

“Hobi? Are you done? Let’s go eat.” Yoongi’s voice came through the door. He stopped when he saw Helena.

“Yoongi-hyung, this is Helena, she’s um..” Hoseok looked at her. He wasn’t sure _what_ or actually _who_ she was. Why did he dance with her?

“I’m a vocal coach.” She said, with a perfect smile. Helena moved forward to get up and Hoseok offered her a hand which she took gracefully and got up. She didn’t even flinch when she walked to Yoongi, Hoseok thought the pill was really effective or she was very good at hiding. “Nice to meet you Yoongi-ssi, Namjoon-Oppa talked to me about you.”

She was offering him a hand. Hoseok watched as he took it wearily. “What are you doing here?” He asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Here the building? Or here with your Hobi?” She was grinning.

Yoongi didn’t miss a beat, acting and being cool was his specialty after all. “Both.”

Hoseok could feel the tension. This was some kind of competition for them.

Helena smirked. “I’ll tell you while we eat.” She said as she walked to where her heels were and picked them up. “Namjoon-Oppa said you liked beef? There’s a really good place just outside.” She said.

“Wait, let me get my things.” Hoseok replied to Helena.

Yoongi gave Hoseok a pointed look. He shrugged in reply and collected his things. When Yoongi didn’t move, he grabbed his wrist and pulled him on.

He wasn’t sure why he was so comfortable with this girl, but he was. He felt like he could trust her, somehow. Hoseok knew that if he thought too much about it, it would give him a migraine, and he didn’t want that right now.  He was starving. Besides, the girl had some moves he could learn. “Hoseok.” Yoongi warned, but went along as he pulled him by his wrist.

“Just, trust me, okay?”

Hoseok didn’t want to meet Yoongi’s eyes.

He heard a sigh. “Okay.”

* * *

 

Hoseok could be really naive sometimes. Or maybe it was Yoongi who was too distrusting. Either way, he followed along.

They found the girl talking to Namjoon on the hallway. Namjoon saw them first.

“Hyung, I came to check on you guys.” He said smiling. He looked tired. “You going to dinner with Helena?”

“Lena.” She corrected.

“Lena.” He repeated. And looked at Hoseok.

“Yeah, we going for beef.” Helena replied. “I owe the Hyung-line a meal.”

Namjoon turned to her. “You don’t owe us anything.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just an excuse.” Helena said and looked at Yoongi. “I don’t think Yoongi-ssi would let me buy him food otherwise.”

Yoongi eyed her suspiciously. “And why would you do that?”

“Hyung.” Namjoon said. And there was something more in that one word: a warning. ‘Be nice.’ He said with it.

Yoongi, being the hyung he was, ignored him. He looked at Helena waiting for an answer.

“Because I want to.” She said simply, with a grin on her face. “Because I can afford it. And maybe because I want to get to know what the Maknae line is so hyped up about Mr. Genius Min.”

It was a challenge and Min Yoongi wasn’t going to back down.

“Lead the way.” He said, crossing his arms on his chest.

Helena turned to Namjoon and smiled brightly. “So, tomorrow evening?”

Namjoon blinked. “I thought I said morning.”

“Yes, but you look tired, so get a good sleep.” She winked at him. “And don’t worry about these two, I’ll get them home safely.”

The steak was to die for. Hoseok ate like a starving beast(and maybe he was), both Yoongi and Helena had to slow him down. If Yoongi was honest, he too wanted to swallow down the whole thing. It was so tender and amazing. (And probably expensive.)

“Alright stop.” Helena said firmly with such authority that Hoseok froze in place. “Drink this. All of it.” She handed a glass of water. “Slowly.” And he did. Then she pushed a salad plate towards him. “Three bites of that.” She indicated. And he did as he was told. And then Helena smiled so radiantly at him, even Yoongi felt something. “Would you like some too, Yoongi-ssi?” She smiled at him the same way.

And he couldn’t say no. He never thought he would be so weak against a simple smile. When he ate the salad(and it was amazing too somehow.) Helena’s smile widens just a tiny bit more if such thing was possible.

“Steak or meat, in general, is pure protein.” She said. “If you're not entirely used to it, your body is going to have problems digesting it properly. So you gotta help your body.” Helena turned to Hoseok again. “So keep taking water and salad breaks, yes?”

“Alright.” Hoseok said, but with his mouth full so it wasn’t very clear.

There was this persistent sting in his shoulder. The one he had hurt before while doing that delivery part-time job. It never healed completely so it always hurt after having a long day. He rubbed absent mindlessly.

Turns out Helena knows a lot about a bunch of themes. She told Hoseok about her time in Japan, which made his eyes sparkle.

“You’re foreign.” Yoongi stated.

Helena was arranging her hair as if something was wrong with it before. It wasn’t. She was one of those annoying people that had flawless hair even after waking up, Yoongi could just tell she was.

“You’re not.” She said with a smirk.

Yoongi rolled his eyes but was grinning too. “Where are you from?”

Helena rested her face on her hand. “That’s tricky.” She replied. “What exactly do you want to know? Where I was born? Or where I was raised? Or where are my parents from? Or where did I spent the majority of my life?” Helena asked. “There’s a different answer to each of those. I could answer them all but, what do I get in return?”

Yoongi arched an eyebrow. “And what do you want?” He was still grinning, only because she was.

Helena smirked. “Your morning.” She said without much thinking. “Tomorrow.”

“Like a date?” Hoseok asked, looking confused.

Helena frowned. “I would say a friends-date but we are not yet friends, are we Yoongi-ssi?” He didn’t reply. “Then no. Not like a date. I have a boyfriend.” She said and turned to Hoseok. “Why don’t you come with us. So it won’t be like a date at all.”

Hoseok smiled brightly and nodded and then looked at Yoongi expectantly.

And how could Yoongi in his right mind turn Hoseok down?

“Alright,” he said. “If you answer all of my questions we’ll go out with you tomorrow morning.”

Helena grinned. “You get 3 questions and that’s my final offer.”

“Deal.” Hoseok said.

Yoongi almost pouts at him. Almost.

“Deal,” Helena repeated. “So, I was born in Argentina, spent the first couple of years of my life there and then spent a couple of years all over the world.” She said. “I’m not sure about which places I was exactly since I was so young but just to name a few: Korea, United States, London, China, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and Chile. There were at least a dozen more, but I don’t remember all of them or didn’t exactly know where I was at the time.” She said. “And my parents are from Taiwan, hence this.” Helena pointed to her face, probably indicating the Asian features. “And as to where I spent the majority of my life.. I would have to make some maths, but I think it would be either Korea or Argentina or the US, I never actually spend much time anywhere anymore.”

Yoongi nodded. He wasn’t sure if there was anything else to say.

“What’s your real name?” He asked next. Jang was a Korean surname, and she had said she wasn’t Korean so it was only natural that he should ask that next.

Helena smirked. “Another tricky one.” She said. “What counts as real?” Helena changed her position sightly. “Since my parents were Taiwanese in American soil, I was born with to names: a Spanish one, and a Chinese one. Xue Helena, and Xue Yu Nuoh.” She said in Chinese. “No one uses my

Chinese name but it’s the one on my Taiwanese passport and citizenship.” Helena explained. “I don’t know if you guys know this but Chinese characters(hanja) can be translated into Korean (hangul) so that’s what’s on my Korean passport.” She said. “But, when I came here the first time, Hyungseung-oppa really helped me settle and his family took me in, so that’s the name I took at first, before doing all the paperwork.” Helena took a sip of water. “So, Jang Helena is, in my regard, my real name as much as the others are. Besides, I have quite a few nicknames and aliases I use from time to time.”

This girl was most likely, 99.9% chance of trouble, there was so much more history than he expected and so much more he didn’t know and probably would never know. He didn’t need that. None of them did need that. They just debuted and couldn’t afford to get into any scandals or anything of the sort.

But still, he wanted to linger.

“What’s your purpose with us?” He asked, serious.

Helena smiled gently. “Tricky until the end I see.” She said. “I like to help people. I always do everything in my power to do so.” Helena looked at Hoseok and then back at him. It was honestly hard to even for Yoongi to hold such gaze.

“I have pretty good instincts about people usually. I really liked Jimin-oppa, you know both know the kind of charm he has on people.” She said with a smile. “And then Jungkook-oppa and well, you get the idea I think.” She said looking back a Yoongi. “They all seem like really good people, and I want to do what I can.”

“So you’re just a good person?” Yoongi asked, holding her gaze firmly. “And we are just supposed to trust you?”

Helena grinned. “Trust me or don’t.” She said calmly. “It’s really up to you. I’m not going to try to convince you of anything. I’m just going to do what I do and whether you choose to trust me or not, it's on you.” She said. “Although, if you did trust me, it would really make me helping much much easier.”

Helena went to the bathroom after that.

“So?” Hoseok asked him. “What do you think?”

Yoongi shook his head. “I really don’t know.” He said. “All reason says she's trouble. I mean I think I do believe she has good intentions overall but, I don’t know.” He shook his head again. “It’s complicated.” _She_ was complicated.

“Maybe it doesn’t have to be.” Hoseok said softly. “Maybe… we just go with it and see what happens.”

“It’s not going to be easy.” He replied.

“Hyung, it hasn’t been easy since the beginning.” Yoongi looked at him. “Besides, nothing worth fighting for is, right?” Hobi was smiling. That smile of his had survived a really a whole lot of turbulence and Yoongi was infinitely grateful for it.

“Right.” Yoongi smiled.

Helena came back a couple of minutes later and said she already took care of the check. Yoongi frowned. Namjoon had given him the company card and told him how Helena had paid before the maknae-line realized she did.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Yoongi said. “It’s not like we can’t pay for our own food.”

Helena looked at him amused. “Actually, technically you can’t afford it.” She said. “I imagine you’re still a long way to break-even with the company, so why would you add to that?” Yoongi knew this but still. “Besides, why not? I like buying food for people and I can afford it.”

A waiter came and gave her two big bags. She thanked him and asked if they were ready to go.

They followed her outside. There was a car waiting outside. The driver pulled the window down. It was a middle-aged man, big smile on his face.

“Miss Lena.” He greeted.

“Thomas.” She said back. “Take this two home and you’re done for the day, okay?”

Thomas nodded. “What about you, miss?”

“Junhyung-oppa is coming to pick me up.”

He nodded and then looked at the guys. “Come on up.”

Helena patted Hoseok’s back. “Go on, guys.” She said and handed Yoongi the bags. “These are for the rest of the members,” she said. “I thought the maknae line would like it.” They started walking towards the car. “I’ll come with Thomas tomorrow morning to pick you guys up.”

They got in the car. It only occurred to Yoongi that they could easily be kidnapped after he closed the door. He was tired, honestly and maybe a little tipsy.

“Hello, I’m Thomas.” The driver said.

“I’m Yoongi, and this is Hoseok.”

Thomas nodded. “You guys are in the same group as Jimin-ssi, right?”

“Yeah.”

They got home safely. No kidnaps. Which he was grateful for.l, but didn’t really have the energy to dwell on.

“Thanks for the ride, Thomas.” He said getting out.

“My pleasure.” He said. “Ah, and miss Lena says we’ll be picking you both up at 9 o’clock tomorrow.”

He merely nodded and got off the car. The pain on his shoulder was so bad it felt like it was pounding, he needed his pills. Hoseok(bless his soul) seemed to notice this and took the bags from Yoongi as they headed inside. He didn’t have the mind to interact with any of the other members so he didn’t try, instead, he headed to the kitchen and downed a handful of pills.

After that everything was a haze. He didn’t remember getting into bed, only feeling a soft pillow under his head.

 

* * *

 

Hoseok cursed as he tried to find his phone to turn off the alarm. It was their day off and he really didn’t want to wake everyone up. The dancer felt relief as he felt the phone under his palm.

He looked around the room to see if he had woken anyone but they were all dead asleep. Hoseok wondered if he should actually check their breathing, just in case.

He took a quick shower before waking Yoongi up.

“Hyung.” He said softly. No response. Hoseok touched Yoongi’s shoulder and shook him a bit. “Hyung, wake up.”

The elder stirred in his sleep. “What..?”

“We going out with Helena, remember?” Hoseok murmured. “Lena.” He corrected himself with a grin.

Yoongi frowned. “Shit.” He cursed. “What time is it?” He started rubbing his eyes as he got up.

He looked ready to kill anyone. But then he focused on Hoseok and his eyes soften, just a bit. Anyone else would be terrified to disturb Yoongi in his sleep.

Hoseok checked the clock on the wall. “A bit after 8.” He said. “You still have some time.”

By the time they were down, Helena was already there waiting. Today she was wearing a more casual outfit, with a leather jacket, jeans and some timberlands and sunglasses on her face even though there wasn’t too much sun(Yoongi did look like he could use some sunglasses though, he looked like a vampire.) She was leaning against the same car as last night and lifted her gaze at the same time they came out, a radiant smile on her face. Hoseok wondered if his own smile was as bright.

“Morning.” She greeted.

Helena peeled herself off the car and took a step towards them and then backed away again. She sighed. “I keep forgetting you people don’t greet others.”

Yoongi frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Taehyung told me about that,” Hoseok said. “You like to greet people with a kiss.”

“On the cheek.” Helena specifies.

He told Yoongi about the talk he had with the rest of the members after he helped him get to bed last night. “We made a little list.” He said to Yoongi. “Of the things we know about Helena.”

Helena laughed as she slipped into the front seat. They both climbed into the back seat.

“I got you both coffee.” She said, handing over the carton with two disposable cups. “And I made some egg rolls.”

It smelled amazing.

“Thanks.” Hoseok, taking the cup, beaming. He took a sip and was very surprised to find it was different from the ones he had before. “This is very good, what’s in it?”

At this, Yoongi takes a sip too. “It _is_ very good indeed.” He kept drinking enthusiastically now.

“Hum, I figured you’d like something different Hoseok-sii.” Helena said, sipping her own cup. “It’s like a caramel macchiato but with a little twist. I could give you the recipe if you’d like. Yoongi-ssi is plain black, but it's from a Brazilian brand. It’s really strong and aromatic.” She turned slightly towards Yoongi. “Would you like it? I have an extra pack at home.”

“You made this?” Hoseok asked before Yoongi could answer.

Helena gave him a look like duh. “I make my own coffee in the mornings. Why buy coffee when you have at home?”

It made sense really but koreans were so used to buy coffee he never stopped to think about it.

“Try these.” She said passing along a food container with the egg rolls she made.

He and Yoongi took one each. It basically melts in your mouth. Hoseok felt like he was in heaven. He didn’t usually eat a lot in the mornings but he didn’t mind this.

“Where are we going?” Yoongi asked after chewing down another piece.

“We’re going to see an old friend of mine.” Helena said simply.

Thomas pulled over in front of a huge building that said “hospital” but looked more like a 5 stars hotel. (Not that he would know what that looks like.) The dancer was speechless.

“A hospital?” Yoongi asked, frowning.

“Yup.” Helena said simply as someone opened her door.

Someone else opened their door and Hoseok just didn’t know what else to do other than climbing out.

Helena leaned into the window and said something to Thomas and then led them inside. The place looked so fancy Hoseok felt out of place and suddenly very self-conscious about his wasted shoes and even more wasted hoodie. One day, Hoseok thought, maybe one day he would be able to enter any room with his head high, and actually feel like he belonged. He looked over to Yoongi a few times. If his hyung was feeling the same as him, he didn’t show it at all, he walked proudly at his own pace.

“Miss Jang.” The receptionist greeted with a smile. “We were expecting you.”

“This is Min Yoongi, I made the appointment for him with Dr. Kim.” She said to the lady.

He and Yoongi exchanged a look. “What’s this for?” Yoongi asked her and the lady handles him a pen and a form to fill out.

“Dr. Kim Matthew is the best traumatologist I know.” She said. “Trust me, I’ve been to a few.” Yoongi still looked clueless. “For your shoulder.” Helena explained. “It hurts, right?” She asked.

“When I’m too tired.” Yoongi said frowning. “But how did you..?”

Helena shrugged it off. “You seemed to favor your right arm a lot more than an average person.” She explained as a matter of factly. “And you walk weird.” Helena backed off a bit and imitated the way Yoongi would walk sometimes. “And you seemed in pain. Physical, not just your emo heartache thing that you’ve got going.” She said pointing at Yoongi’s general direction. “Fill out the form, yeah? I don’t want to keep oppa waiting.” She pulled her phone out next and started texting quickly.

To Hoseok’s surprise, Yoongi started filling out the form quietly.

Only the other members knew about Yoongi’s injury a few months ago. It was useless trying to hide it from them when he and Namjoon had returned from the hospital with a bandage around his left arm. They said it would heal quickly because it wasn’t such a big injury so Yoongi had asked them not to tell any of the staff or managers. He kept training with them after a few days of resting but Hoseok was still worried. He knew Yoongi was still in pain and was worried the injury would only get worse. He’d almost broke into a fight with him about it a few days ago. Yoongi insisted he was okay but Hoseok could see how much he was struggling lately.

“Lena.” A man’s voice called.

The 3 of them turned to it, Helena already smiling. (Of course.)

“Matt.” She stepped forward as he approached. They pressed their cheeks together as he wrapped an arm around her back. Hoseok guessed that was the ‘proper greeting’ Helena mentioned before.

“This is Yoongi, and this is Hoseok.” She presented.

Dr. Kim was a young gentleman, he couldn’t be more than 30 and pretty handsome too. Hoseok wondered how good he was to be working in such hospital like this.

“Nice to meet you both.” He stretched out his hand for them to shake and they did.

They followed him through the corridors to the elevator.

“Next time you come, you can come up my office directly.” Dr. Kim said to Yoongi, who only nodded.

Next time? Hoseok wasn’t even sure how they would afford this time. Maybe Helena had a free consultation coupon for them or something. He wished that was the case because if she was paying for it, he was sure Yoongi wouldn’t accept it.

The elevator opened to a cafeteria on the 4th floor. “I’ll be waiting here,” Helena said stepping out. “Hoseok-ssi, you want to come with?”

He looked over to his hyung, who nodded to him. “Sure.”

The cafeteria looked like a fancy restaurant, with deep blue curtains and chandeliers. It all just served for Hoseok to feel more and more out of place. They sat down at a corner of it, across from each other.

“I don’t really like hospitals, they make me uncomfortable.” She commented. “That’s part of why I like this hospital, it doesn’t look like a hospital.”

Hoseok nodded.  “It’s very fancy.” He said, still looking around.

Helena smiled. “So, how far have you gotten?” She asked, resting her chin on the back of her hand.

Hoseok lifted his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“On the list of facts about me.” She said, grinning.

“Oh.” He smiled too. “Not very far actually.” He flipped out his phone and showed her a photo Jimin had sent him last night.

It on was a scrap of white paper they found, written with a black marker, in Namjoon’s handwriting.

Helena shook her head. “Read it for me, would you?” She said. “I don’t read Korean very well.”

He nodded and started reading. “ _Things we know about Helena:”_

“Lena.” She corrected. “Make sure you correct that later.”

Hoseok grinned. “ _Things we know about Lena:”_ She gave an approving nod. “ _-Foreign. (Born in Argentina, but been to everywhere.) (Or something like that.)”_ She chuckled. “ _-Knows BEAST and NU’EST sunmbaenims.”_

“I’m _close_ to BEAST and NU’EST.” She corrected.

They went back and forth with the list until Hoseok had to borrow a pen and paper to write down all the corrections he had to make once he got back.

“I can call you oppa, right?” She asked later, he justs nodded. “You know Oppa, that’s actually a lot of information about a person.”

It was, but at the same time, it felt like it wasn’t enough. He itched to know more, it felt like he would never know everything there was to know.

“Maybe we could trade,” Helena said. “A fact about me, for something I ask for.”

  


_Things we know about ~~Helena:~~ Lena: _

_-Foreign. (Born in Argentina, but been to everywhere.) (Or something like that.)_

_- ~~Knows~~ Is CLOSE TO BEAST and NU’EST sunmbaenims. _

_-Speaks multiple languages. (Including English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese.)_

_-Cooks. (Very good, ~~maybe~~  better than Seokjin) _

_-Last name Jang. (Which she adopted from a family that was good to her.) (Her passport says Seo) (Has a lot of nicknames.)_

_-Parents are Taiwanese._

_-Vocal coach. (Mostly.)_

_-Knows stuff._

_-Has a boyfriend. (His name is Dan.)_

* * *

_ “ _ Hyung, are you ready yet?” Namjoon asked for the fifth time.

Seokjin just rolls his eyes without replying. He was in fact only sitting on the bathroom stool since the last time Namjoon had called. He didn’t like being rushed. It was bad enough that he had to put up with it while working, he didn’t need that at home too. 

‘Home’ was a strong word really. The small crappy apartment could barely fit all seven of them it sometimes made him claustrophobic. He thought what his dad would say about it but then decided not to ponder on it. 

He checked his reflection for the last time before exiting the bathroom. 

Namjoon was right there. He inspected Jin’s face for a moment.

“Like what you see?” He asked. 

It was automatic at this point. The other members had asked how he could be so confident all the time, but the truth was: he wasn’t. Namjoon didn’t even acknowledge the sassy comment, though. Whatever reaction it got out of other people, he was different.

“Everything alright?” He asked the elder. 

He arched an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t it be?” 

The leader simply shook his head and rubbed his face with his hands. “Just checking.” 

Jin couldn’t help but smile a little bit. 

He looked over to the piece of paper they had scribbled on yesterday and the photo Hobi had sent earlier. 

“Maybe we should get a board for this.” He commented as Namjoon came out of the bathroom, then frowned. “You know, it’s weird the amount of attention we are paying to one person that we don’t really know.” Namjoon didn’t say anything. “I mean, what is she to us, exactly? Is she a friend?”

He could see the leader’s wheels turning, in search for an answer. “I’m not sure either.” He replied carefully. “But she was nice to us just for the sake of it, and the kids do seem less stressed, you know?” He added. “Maybe it’s a good thing to have something else to think about.” Then he shook his head. “Wait until you meet her, Hyung, you’ll see what I mean.” 

Seokjin didn’t say it, but he was a little bitter he was the last one to meet this mysterious person. 

“They’re here.” Namjoon announced, looking at his phone. 

They had a little change of plans earlier. They were supposed to go out for coffee or something but then Helena had texted that she, Yoongi and Hoseok were done before they expected so they were going to come home and prepare something quick and easy for lunch. 

Yoongi entered first, with a small bag on hand, it seemed like a pharmacy bag. He frowned, more painkillers? Yoongi had to have his shoulder checked out, soon. Hoseok followed with to bigger bags of groceries. And then a girl.  _ The girl.  _

Helena was nothing he expected. He didn’t think he expected something until he saw her and felt confused. After all the things they’ve said about her, he had expected someone that looked out of this world. Helena looked.. normal. But that was a mistake, the more you looked at her, more details you could pick out. Perfect posture, designer clothing, flawless hair, and a mesmerizing smile. She had a graciousness that was so out of place in this cramped apartment that it made Jin want to cringe. 

And Helena was walking towards him. “The last member.” She said approaching a little bit too close like she was going to do something and then he remembered the thing about her and greetings, so he did what he thought was the right thing. He leaned forward and down a little bit. She was shorter than Yoongi which meant she was shorter than himself.

Seokjin saw her smile widen as she touched his arm leaning in too, and he felt her cheek pressed to his, and heard a kissing sound. “Pleasure to meet you, Kim Seokjin-ssi.” 

Before he composes himself, his automatic line of defense kicks in. “Of course it is, have you seen anyone like me before?” He said. And then realized he should smile, so it would sound more like a joke, so he did. 

Helena smiled, amused. “I haven’t actually.” She replied. “I don’t think there are two of anyone in this world.” She winked. “But, if you were referring to your handsomeness, then yes, you could say I have. I know Choi Minki after all.” 

He put a hand on his chest at this, faking offense but didn’t say anything. Choi Minki was, indeed, a very handsome guy. So, he wasn’t actually offended whatsoever. 

“Here, I got you guys something.” She said grinning, handing over a flat looking bag. 

Jin took the bag and opened it. It was a small size whiteboard. He could barely contain his laughter. “Thanks, it will come in handy.” He said in between laughs. 

Helena was smiling a satisfied smile. And then headed over to Namjoon, and greeted him as well, only Seokjin was sure he had been at least ten times less awkward than the leader. Helena didn’t comment on it, though, she seemed genuinely happy to see Namjoon. They conversed for a moment, in a pleasant and lazy manner about something he didn’t quite catch, probably something in English, and Seokjin found himself just pleasantly watching without feeling left out. (Even though he was)

“Seokjin-ssi, shall we start cooking?” She said towards him, the same blinding smile on her face.

He followed her into the kitchen. 

Helena took off her expensive looking leather jacket and left it on one of the chairs. If she minded the messy small kitchen, she didn’t say anything. 

The thing was, Jin had come from money, so he knew when someone else did too. Everything about her was telling him she came from money too, from the way she moved to the way she talked. But the fact that she didn’t  _ mind _ that none of them had actually anything to offer her or the smelly apartment, or even  _ cooking for herself _ , meant a lot to Jin and was getting her a lot of points in his ‘people rating’ in his head.

None of the other guys seemed to mind either. He thought maybe Hoseok or Namjoon would be a little bit more self-conscious, but they seemed at ease every time they talked to her.

He put on an apron and offered one to Helena. She shook her head. “I don’t like using aprons.” She said shrugging.

She took all the things out of the bags. It was a lot and didn’t seem so simple. “What are we making?” He asked her. 

Helena had a mischievous smile on her face. “A bunch of things.” She winked at him. She was going to freestyle, and he loved it.

She set him up with some tasks while she did the others. Helena was no stranger to fire, or a knife for that matter. Her cutting was so precise he considered bringing a ruler to measure the sticks she was cutting.

“It will be a little bit more Taiwanese style than Korean.” She commented. “I always end up leaning more to that side somehow.” 

Jin only nodded, he didn’t really mind and the tips she was giving were really blowing his mind. They were so simple yet so useful.

“So, what did you do with Yoongi and Hoseok?” He asked, hoping to sound casual, and not prying. He was honestly curious, and you couldn’t blame him. Yoongi didn’t usually go out at all, much less in a free day. More than anything, he was interested in how she had slithered her way into Yoongi’s trust. It was a hard task to accomplish and she did it in less than a day. Or at least he thought she had.

Helena didn’t reply at first, turning to look at Yoongi, sitting with Hoseok and Namjoon in the couch.

Yoongi seemed to feel the gaze on him so he turned to them. “What?” He asked.

“What did we do today, Yoongi-ssi?”

Jin frowned at this. Why did she have to ask him? 

Yoongi waved a hand dismissively. “It’s okay, they know.” He said.

Helena relaxed. “I took him to the hospital.” She explained, voice lower. “Dr. Matthew Kim is the best traumatologist I know, and I thought Yoongi should check his shoulder.”

Ah. That was why. She was asking Yoongi permission, in case he had been keeping it a secret from all of them (and knowing Yoongi he probably would if he could). But how the hell did  _ she _ know?

“I noticed him flinching a lot yesterday.” She explained before he could ask. “I have a lot of muscle problems too, so I’m kind of familiar, you know?”

He nodded as he watched her work. 

There was some kind of line on the back of her hand, very small, and barely noticeable but once you saw it you couldn’t unsee it. He traced it with his eyes a couple of times before noticing more lines on her wrist. Scars? They didn’t seem like the ones people did to kill themselves but he had to admit he didn’t know much about the matter. 

The eldest wondered what kind of life she had that led to so many scars and muscle problem and being emancipated so early on in life. Then he realized that maybe being emancipated and having been all over the world and never settling down was maybe a consequence of the scars. Or maybe he was thinking too much. 

“You’re very alike Minki-oppa in some ways, did you know that?” She commented. 

“Yeah, we are both beautiful.” He said, grinning.

“Yes, but there’s more.” She said, grinning too. “You both do the same thing. You have the same defense mechanism.” She pointed with the knife. “Of course he has perfected the technique, but you’re not so bad yourself.” 

He arched his eyebrows. “Luckily for you, I’m the one that helped him do so.” She winked at him. 

The food was excellent, and Jin had learned each and every part of it so he could recreate it. There were so many leftovers they had to use the new containers Helena had ‘casually’ and ‘coincidentally’ bought earlier to store them in the fridge. They probably had a different dish for each day of the rest of the week.

“Do you think she planned?” He asked Namjoon after she left. “I mean did she really fool Yoongi and Hoseok into a hospital to have Yoongi checked out and then bought extra food  _ and  _ containers for us to have enough food for a year?” 

“Yeah,” Namjoon replied, and Jin kept looking at him so he went on. “I mean it wouldn’t surprise me, really. She’s been buying us food for 2 days now.” 

Seokjin was nodding.

“It’s strange though, seeing you this interested in one person,” Namjoon says, turning to the elder. “You’re never this wary about people.” 

Jin just nods again, tracing lines along Namjoon’s hand distractingly. He wasn’t really sure why he was wary of her, or that he even was, to begin with. He had previous experience of people approaching him because they wanted something, but.. what could they have of interest for her?

“Joon-ah, what do you know about cut scars?” He asked suddenly.

Namjoon didn’t flinch, only raised his eyebrows. “You mean like, suicidal ones?” He nodded. “Well, not much? Why?” 

Jin grabbed Namjoon’s wrist and turned it, so the inside part was facing them. “They are usually here, right?” He asked. 

Namjoon nodded. “Well there’s no actual rule to it, but yeah, the point is to bleed to your death I think.” 

Seokjin nodded. “She’s not suicidal, then.” He went back to trace lines on Namjoon’s arm. “I guess it’s fine then.” He said, thinking. 

The leader chuckled lightly. “What is?” 

He shrugged. “Well I mean, if she was suicidal, then there  _ is  _ something she could one from us.” Jin explained. “If that is what she’s looking for, I’m not saying it is, but it's a possibility:  _ Affection.”  _

Namjoon thought this for a bit. “If that was the case, which I don’t think it is because I don’t really think she wants anything,” He turned to Jin. “Would you give it to her?” 

Jin was already nodding at this. “Why not?” He said. “She looks like a nice girl.” 

Namjoon smiled. “I was mistaken.” He said. Jin arched his eyebrows. “You’re not wary of her, you’re  _ interested.” _

Seokjin smirks. “What, jealous?” 

Namjoon holds his gaze and arcs an eyebrow. “What if I am?” 

He can feel himself flush a little. 

Seokjin swears Namjoon will be the end of him. 


End file.
